[Drama Review] 'Uncontrollably Fond' - Episode 18

AKP STAFF

UNCONTROLLABLY FOND -- EPISODE 18

Wow. Traffic cams have gotten really advanced. They start tracking me before I get out of the driveway...

This episode felt like an ending. In fact, a two-minute epilogue could have made this episode the end. But they didn't do that, so here we are.

In flashback, we see Joon Young planting cameras all over. He films Jung Eun confessing to the hit and run as he planned. Which took way too long to get to. I haven't figured why they drew it out so much, but I imagine they needed something to fill the show's running time. Happier times could have done just as well, but they didn't ask me.

Joon Young gets dragged away right after the confession by detectives investigating his fabricated drug use. Soon enough, Noh Eul is given the whole story -- like Joon Young is Choi's kid -- by Ji Tae, who begs her to forgive Joon Young. She comes home to find Jik has been brought up to speed by Na Ri. Jik is outraged that he didn't know everything, but Noh Eul tells him she just wanted him to be happier.

I'm always riding dirty - until I wash my car.

Jik now knows he's dating the daughter of the enemy and tells Ha Ru he's gay and breaks it off. He breaks down and cries afterward. And that was the part that disappointed me the most. While Ha Ru is a petulant and fickle teen, I still thought she and Jik made a cute couple. But I also know that if her family crashes and burns, they will have a very tough time of it. Disgrace in South Korea essentially kills any chance of a decent job. And he'd get dragged down right along with her.

Choi visits Joon Young at the police station and tells him if he leaves Korea quietly, he'll ensure Joon Young has a long and happy life. The star refuses, calling Choi a disgrace, an embarrassment; he's ashamed to be Choi's son. As he tries to leave, he collapses. At this point, Joon Young's disease becomes public knowledge, and word spreads like wildfire. This was a particularly powerful scene, though they've been building toward this for the last few episodes. Making it very clear the way he treats his own son is wrong. Wrong for abandoning him, wrong for trying to hurt him.

Simple -- I can't date a girl with a tattoo on her wrist.

Noh Eul tells Jung Eun she will put the story of her guilt on TV and go to the police. Ji Tae goes to the press�but dies in a crash while evading a pursuing car. Joon Young congratulates Noh Eul for successfully masquerading as his girlfriend. He lays down and she cradles his head in her lap. The words of the doctor echo in her head: he will confuse past and present, don't freak out, just hold him...

We got some poetic justice, but it's sort of a Pyrrhic victory now that Ji Tae is gone. I love how Noh Eul pulls the tablecloth, spilling all the dishes -- exactly what Jung Eun did to her. Not only that, but Joon Young is pretty far gone, which is sad. The fact that I saw it coming doesn't make it any less tragic. Did I like his character? Not really. I don't have much patience for people who wait for life to happen to them or just give up when things get tough. But that didn't mean that he had to die.

Who is this? Why are you pranking my cell?

Yeah, this drama's heading for the melodrama ending, where no one's happy and everyone dies. Noh Eul holds her side in the trailer for episode 19. If she's sick, that'd be the perfect capper to this drama. Make her blind, too, for extra pathos. So, my prediction is that the Choi family falls, Noh Eul dies along with Joon Young. And Jik is left to grieve, we'll see him visiting her grave sometime in the future, putting flowers on it. It would be nice if Ha Ru put her arm around him for support at the very end as they walk off (she could visit Ji Tae's grave), but I think that ship has sailed.

It's winding down, and things are moving forward. They have two more episodes to torture these guys. Let's see what they come up with!